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Disturbing situation in Arizona

Phoenix police have served a search warrant to get DNA from all male employees at a long-term care facility where a patient who was in a vegetative state for years gave birth, triggering reviews by state agencies and putting a spotlight on safety concerns for severely disabled or incapacitated patients.

Hacienda HealthCare, the company that owns the facility, said Tuesday that it welcomed the DNA testing of employees.

"We will continue to co-operate with Phoenix police and all other investigative agencies to uncover the facts in this deeply disturbing, but unprecedented situation," the company said in a statement.

Local news website Azfamily.com first reported the woman, who had been in a vegetative state for more than 10 years after a near-drowning, delivered a baby on Dec. 29.

Officials with the San Carlos Apache tribe said the the 29-year-old woman is an enrolled member of the tribe, whose reservation is in southeastern Arizona about 215 kilometres east of Phoenix.

The woman was still in a vegetative state when she gave birth, the tribe said in a statement that redacted her name. It's unclear if staff members at the facility were aware of her pregnancy until the birth.

"On behalf of the tribe, I am deeply shocked and horrified at the treatment of one of our members," tribal chairman Terry Rambler said. "When you have a loved one committed to palliative care, when they are most vulnerable and dependent upon others, you trust their caretakers. Sadly, one of her caretakers was not to be trusted and took advantage of her. It is my hope that justice will be served."

A lawyer for the woman's family said in a statement that her family was outraged at the "neglect of their daughter" and asked for privacy.

"The family would like me to convey that the baby boy has been born into a loving family and will be well cared for," Phoenix attorney John Micheaels said in a statement. 'Horrifying situation'

San Carlos Apache Police Chief Alejandro Benally said Phoenix police "will do all they can to find the perpetrator."

A spokesperson for Hacienda HealthCare said investigators served a search warrant Tuesday to obtain DNA samples from all male staff.

In a statement, board member Gary Orman said the facility "will accept nothing less than a full accounting of this absolutely horrifying situation."

"We will do everything in our power to ensure the safety of every single one of our patients and our employees," Orman said.

Hacienda CEO Bill Timmons stepped down Monday, spokesperson David Leibowitz said. The decision was unanimously accepted by the provider's board of directors.

The Hacienda facility serves infants, children and young adults who are "medically fragile" or have developmental disabilities, according to its website. In the wake of the reports, the Arizona Department of Health Services said new safety measures have been implemented. They include increased staff presence during any patient interaction, more monitoring of patient care areas and additional security measures involving visitors.

The state's online complaint database for care facilities shows multiple complaints about Hacienda de Los Angeles going back to 2013. Most of them involve fire drill and evacuation preparation or Medicaid eligibility.

But one complaint from December 2013 outlines an allegation that a staff member made inappropriate sexual comments about four patients two months earlier. Nobody relayed the incidents to an administrator. That employee was later fired.

Advocates for the disabled say Arizona needs to find a way to monitor allegations of sexual abuse and sexual violence in group settings. Doing background checks isn't enough, said Erica McFadden, executive director of the Arizona Developmental Disabilities Planning Council.

Jon Meyers, executive director of The Arc of Arizona, an advocacy group for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities, called the allegations "disturbing, to put it mildly."

"I wasn't there. I clearly don't have firsthand knowledge of what happened," Meyers said. "But I can't believe someone receiving that level of constant care wasn't recognized as being pregnant prior to the time she delivered."

Comment

While I don't know much about vegetative states or care home standards, it seems likely to me that this poor woman was failed by the staff beyond the sexual assault - almost certainly, assaults - in that nobody noticed how someone being tube fed was showing any signs of pregnancy.

Comment

While I don't know much about vegetative states or care home standards, it seems likely to me that this poor woman was failed by the staff beyond the sexual assault - almost certainly, assaults - in that nobody noticed how someone being tube fed was showing any signs of pregnancy.

I've had to learn a lot about care homes recently and TBH I am pleasantly surprised in what we have here.

Comment

I've had to learn a lot about care homes recently and TBH I am pleasantly surprised in what we have here.

Good and bad ones everywhere, although this particular case is most disturbing. My sisterís father-in-law passed away in one just recently because a staffer messed up his prescription. Was troubling that they were paying $5k/month to have that happen.

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Good and bad ones everywhere, although this particular case is most disturbing. My sisterís father-in-law passed away in one just recently because a staffer messed up his prescription. Was troubling that they were paying $5k/month to have that happen.

I'm very sorry to hear that. My dad is in a public long term care facility as of a couple months ago and it isn't anywhere near $5K. It's not the Ritz but they are doing a great job looking after him from what I can tell, the staff is excellent.

Comment

On top of the obvious horrific nature of what must have happened, how bad must the overall care be at the facility. Consider everything would need to be done for this poor woman, noone noticed she was pregnant? Or if they did notice, didn't alert anyone?